CarTech sued over alleged waste violations

NEW YORK  The Environmental Protection Agency is suing specialty alloy producer Carpenter Technology Corp. for damages related to the alleged disposal of hazardous materials at a former industrial site in New Jersey.

The lawsuit, which also names nine other defendants including Dearborn, Mich.-based Ford Motor Co. and Boston-based Cabot Corp., shows that the federal government "seeks to recover certain costs incurred or to be incurred by the United States in connection with the release or threatened release of hazardous substances into the environment" at the Evor Phillips Leasing Superfund Site in Old Bridge, N.J., according to documents filed Dec. 16 with the U.S. District Court in New Jersey.

Beginning in the early 1960s, the Phillips site was used "for industrial operations including, but not limited to metals reclamation, waste oil recovery and industrial waste treatment and disposal," the lawsuit says. The filing claims that "from at least 1970 to approximately 1986, hazardous substances were transported to, accepted and disposed of at the site."

The lawsuit goes on to claim that CarTech "sent hazardous wastes, including waste acids containing hydrochloric acid and sulfuric acid, from its Reading, Pa., plant to the site." The company allegedly "arranged for the disposal at the site of wastes containing hazardous substances, and these hazardous substances were found at the site."